Mister, why don't you do something useful instead of bloviating: tell everyone who will listen that there are 3 Israeli soldiers kidnapped last summer by thugs. NOTHING will happen in terms of Israeli acceptance of any terms until those three are returned safely.

Posted at February 2, 2007 2:48 AM in response to Mid East Peace Quartet Meets Tomorrow in Washington

Dear Karen444, I don't know or care in what state you live, but Chuck Schumer is my Senator, and I sleep better at night knowing he is. Most liberal Democrats with a functioing brain are delighted he had the smarts to play a very key role in engineering Democratic control of the Senate.

Posted at January 31, 2007 7:28 PM in response to American Jewish Commttee Report Goes After Liberal Anti-Semites

"My position is that one should be able to say anything about the State of Israel and its origins without being called anti-semitic. The point at which one crosses over is to call for the physical destruction of Israel i.e. the slaughter of its people."--M.J. Rosenberg

If you mean, Mr. Rosenberg, to take an example of "saying anything" that I should not label as anti-semitic someone who says "the Jews of Europe got what was coming to them for killing our Lord, and the UN owed those Christ-killers nothing in 1948", then your remark is breathtakingly daft. If, however, you mean that someone should be able to criticize the policies of the government of Israel without being labeled anti-semitic, I agree with you.

Interestingly enough, so does David Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee, as the Times article states. But you don't mention that in your piece.

Posted at January 31, 2007 7:08 PM in response to American Jewish Commttee Report Goes After Liberal Anti-Semites

Daniel has stated my sentiments more trenchantly than I could, except that while I share his fear that Iran is using the lure of negotiations with the U.S. to buy time to advance their technology rendering any later Israeli attack useless, I do agree with those here who think the Administration should at least try to talk directly to Iran. Given the willingness of Republican Presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon to Reagan to conduct one-on-one talks with Russian leaders who had the capacity to annihilate American civilization, it seems illogical that we would eschew bi-lateral talks with Iran which, for the moment, does not.

Some Israelis hope America goes to war with Iran, thereby sparing them the necessity of attacking Iran in their view. I am not convinced that is a position which as of now commands a majority of Israeli voters however, so I would caution those who consider Bibi Netanhyu to be a spokesman for Israel.

I haven't converted completely to your viewpoint: I am with Hilary and John Edwards all the way in not ruling out any option even while we talk to Iran.

Posted at January 29, 2007 6:07 PM in response to From New Republic: Preparing for War With Iran

Daniel has stated my sentiments more trenchantly than I could, except that while I share his fear that Iran is using the lure of negotiations with the U.S. to buy time to advance their technology rendering any later Israeli attack useless, I do agree with those here who think the Administration should at least try to talk directly to Iran. Given the willingness of Republican Presidents from Eisenhower to Nixon to Reagan to conduct one-on-one talks with Russian leaders who had the capacity to annihilate American civilization, it seems illogical that we would eschew bi-lateral talks with Iran which, for the moment, does not.

Some Israelis hope America goes to war with Iran, thereby sparing them the necessity of attacking Iran in their view. I am not convinced that is a position which as of now commands a majority of Israeli voters however, so I would caution those who consider Bibi Netanhyu to be a spokesman for Israel.

I haven't converted completely to your viewpoint: I am with Hilary and John Edwards all the way in not ruling out any option even while we talk to Iran.

Posted at January 29, 2007 6:07 PM in response to From New Republic: Preparing for War With Iran

This is what the Trotskyites of the 30's--all those earnest CCNY left-wingers who later became neo-cons-- would have sounded like if laptops had been invented by then. Please get real. This country is not going socialist in the lifetime of anybody on this board, so figure out how government can harness the power of the market to achieve desirable social ends. Capping and trading emissions permits is one way; government subsidies for people to buy health insurance is another. Unless you taking this blog for college credit, don't waste people's time on sterile theories.

Posted at January 29, 2007 5:46 PM in response to Note to Nancy Pelosi: Challenge Market Fundamentalism

I respect the well-reasoned and civil formulation of your views, Howard, although we may disagree as to the exact boundaries Israel should be willing to negotiate.

Posted at January 28, 2007 5:59 PM in response to Israel's Isolation

Mr. Rosenberg, rest assured I am not a mythical construct of an anti-Semite, but a real Jew just like you. If you don't want to believe my post from this morning, that is your perogative, but I won't let your absurd charge go unchallenged.

Posted at January 28, 2007 5:48 PM in response to Israel's Isolation

A majority of House Democrats--many of whom have received campaign contributions from individuals who are AIPAC members--voted AGAINST the 2002 resolution authorizing war. Most of the Housee and Senate Republicans who voted for that resolution do not receive such contributions. It was not the Jews who caused the Iraq War, and your calumny to that effect cannot go unchallenged.

Posted at January 28, 2007 5:36 AM in response to Israel's Isolation

Mr. Rosenberg--

When you ask Mr. Marshall to ban me, please remind him that I very politely asked you several times to present data supporting your assertions that Senators and Representatives mouth pro-AIPAC sentiments without believing them, and you have ignored me. Are you afraid I will continue to point out to TPM Cafe readers your refusal to respond to my request?

I do not intend to reveal my identity as that would only allow far too many here to harass me personally, but I can assure you that I am indeed a bona fide Reconstructionist synagogue member, not a virulent Jew-hater as you posit, and as far as being right wing, I don't know of many right-wingers who gave $1000 to John Kerry and $1000 to Bill Bradley so that they could become President. My views are exactly the same on most issues as those of John Edwards, Barack Obama, Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi, Steny Hoyer, Henry Waxman, Jerry Nadler, Nita Lowey, Barney Frank, Ted Kennedy, Barbara Boxer, Chris Dodd, Russ Feingold, Barbara Mikulsky, Patty Murray and many more liberal Democrats too numerous to list here, all of whom I am pleased to say agree with me-- and not you--that the fundamental key to peace between Israel and the Palestinians is not to force Israel to make a false peace, but for the Palestinians to finally present a negotiating partner to whom Israel can make territorial concessions with confidence that a peace agreement will not go the way of rockets being hurled at them, and who also believe, as I do, that it is absolutely in the interest of the United States that Israel be secure and prosperous so that it has the necessary confidence to make that agreement, and who agree with me that it is also absolutely in the interest of the United States that in a region filled with thugs, the U.S. has a Western democracy as an ally.

Finally, I will leave it to Mr. Marshall and his staff to decide if my point of view should be extinguished on this site. It would be your readers' loss, not mine.

Yours quite sincerely,

Sage

Posted at January 28, 2007 5:27 AM in response to Israel's Isolation